Last week sure was a swell week for Hillary—her campaign announcement got some nice attention, 538 seems to think she’s got this in the bag, and the biggest scandal seems to be the fact that she didn’t tip at Chipotle. (FWIW, the Chipotle that I used to live near discouraged tipping, so make of that what you will.)
The point is, everything’s going great for Hillary. The stars are aligning, and all of the Democrats seem to be on board with OH WAIT HANG ON MARTIN O’MALLEY HAS SOMETHING TO SAY.
Martin O’Malley, for the unfamiliar, was the governor of Maryland, and by all accounts he’s a swell guy who cut college tuition and signed bills to let undocumented immigrants go to college, let gay couples marry, and end the death penalty. (All those things are unrelated, but if you’re an undocumented lesbian going to school to become a prison reformer, Maryland might just be the state for you.)
Malley also is super hot, participates in Polar Bear plunges, plays the guitar in a Celtic rock band, and is thus the subject of frequent “Martin O’Malley shirtless” searches in my household. I believe PolitiFact has rated him as a “10/10, would bang.”
So it came as a bit of a surprise that he lashed out at Hillary during what was supposed to be her big week. The Clinton machine recently clarified that the candidate supports full national marriage equality (none of this state-by-state nonsense) and drivers’ licenses for undocumented immigrants.
In response, O’Malley got catty, saying, “I’m glad Secretary Clinton’s come around to the right positions on these issues.” Mee-yowww.
He also released an oddly brief YouTube video, using all of two sentences to reaffirm his commitment to marriage equality, suggest that someone has been less than courageous on the topic, and then link to a donation form.
So, uh, guess he’s running for president after all.
Hillary’s stance on marriage has shifted quite a bit over the years, and as recently as a year ago she said that states should be allowed to decide for themselves. (Can you imagine if America adopted that policy with interracial marriage?) She definitely took too long to come around. Bad Hillary.
But having him lash out at her kind of feels like Mom and Dad fighting. The last thing I want to witness right now is Democrats tearing each other down while Republicans watch gleefully from the sidelines.
Is this going to super-duper fuck things up for Hillary?
Ehhhh, no, probably not. For one thing, politicians say all kinds of things about each other, particularly before primaries—and then they’re back to being friends. And as criticisms go, O’Malley’s are fairly mild. Hillary made fun of Obama pretty badly in 2007:
If anything, he’s probably angling for a VP nomination, or maybe a cabinet position, or practicing for 2020. That wouldn’t be so bad.
And Clinton has’t responded to O’Malley’s rhetoric, which is the right move. Returning fire would be beneath her. This way, he can score a few points and she can look magnanimous when she makes him Secretary of Bulging Triceps.
And it’s worth pointing out: O’Malley hasn’t exactly been consistent on marriage for his entire career. Ten years ago, he was just coming around to accepting civil unions.
